The present invention relates generally to individual passenger suite seating arrangements for airliners and other conveyances, and more particularly, to passenger suites arranged into groups and columns with shared lateral and branch aisles for accessing suites located apart from longitudinal aisles, as well as features and amenities associated with suite groupings and individual suites.
Premium seating classes on long-haul international flights can include individual passenger suites equipped with lay-flat capable seats, ottomans, audio/video equipment and deployable tables, among other amenities. Such suites can be found on wide-body jets where more space is available for accommodating the travel preferences of premium class passengers who can afford to pay higher fares for more space, privacy, conveniences, and luxuries.
As with all seating classes, there is a need to arrange suites on airliners to maximize suite density without compromising seat space and privacy. On current wide-body jets, suites can be arranged into a center column and outboard columns, with suite access provided directly from one of the longitudinal aisles that run from front to rear of the aircraft. As such, each suite is required to be positioned adjacent one of these longitudinal aisles, or access to an outboard suite provided through an adjacent inboard suite, disadvantageously interrupting the privacy of the passenger seated in the inboard suite. Such arrangements also limit the number of suites that can be positioned abreast and/or requires the suites to be positioned at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the aircraft.
Accordingly, what is needed are seating arrangements for individual suites that allow a greater number of suites to be positioned abreast, thereby allowing all suites to extend in the longitudinal direction while maximizing suite privacy, among other advantages.